“And they went there?” questioned Dave.
“I think they did.”
CHAPTER XXIII
WHAT THE LITTLE GIRLS KNEW
Dave and Roger talked to the fruit-stand boy a few minutes longer, and then jumped into the automobile and rode up to the Bliss House, an old-fashioned hotel, standing on a corner and surrounded by a number of stately elm trees.
“I can’t understand this at all, Dave,” said Roger, while on the way. “What would take those girls uptown? They must have known that the train might come along at any minute, and then, if they weren’t on hand to get aboard, they’d be left.”
“It certainly is a mystery, Roger. All we can do is to follow up this clue and see where it leads to. From what that man who had the motorcycle said, and from what the lame boy told us, it is pretty certain that Jessie and Laura got off the train at the Crossing and did not get on again at this railroad station. And if they came up to the hotel here, they must have had some purpose in so doing.”
The country hotel was not a very busy place, and the chums found the clerk quite willing to give them all the information he could. He did not, however, remember the girls; nor did the proprietor of the place, who came up to see what was wanted, remember them.
“I don’t think they came here. Or, if they did, they didn’t come to the office,” said the clerk. “I was here all day, and I know.”
“Did you have any strangers around the place that day, so far as you can remember?” questioned Dave.
“None to stay. We had half a dozen drummers; but I know all of them, for they have been coming and going for a number of years.”